Planning to retire at year-end and sign up for Medicare in January? Part A will be backdated to July — and every HSA dollar you put in this fall becomes an “excess contribution” with a 6% tax that repeats every year it sits there. Here’s the math, the fix, and what your HSA is still good for.
Federal prosecutors say a ring posing as lawyers and government officials took more than $40 million from U.S. timeshare owners, many of them older Americans. The scam doesn’t end when you stop paying; it comes back twice in a new costume. One rule stops all three acts.
Fifteen brand-name drugs get negotiated prices on Jan. 1. Here’s where the discount actually shows up on your bill, where it doesn’t, and the three lines in this month’s plan letter that tell you which one you’re getting.
For the first time since 2021, people who take the standard deduction can write off charitable gifts in 2026. Here’s who gets what, the three gifts that don’t count, and why a direct gift from your IRA can beat the deduction outright.
Scammers are cloning real dealerships’ websites down to the reviews, then selling cars that don’t exist. The FTC flagged it Sept. 1. Here’s the one payment demand that gives it away, and how to find the real lot’s phone number without touching the fake site.
A pilot called WISeR has put prior authorization on a short list of procedures in six states. Most people won’t feel it. If you do, one form (the ABN) decides whether you or Medicare gets the bill.
Retire, stop using a card, and the issuer can cancel it with no notice. What that does to your credit score, why the score still sets your car-insurance bill, and the five-minute fix.
A phishing wave is borrowing the one health login you actually trust, six weeks before Medicare Open Enrollment. Here’s how it works, what it’s really after, and the two-second habit that makes it harmless.
Social Security says to check your earnings record every year after August — your 2025 wages should be posted now. The 10-minute check, the math on one missing year (about $34 a month for a middle earner), and the April 15, 2027 date that matters if 2023 is the year that’s wrong.
58% of Medicare Advantage members didn’t use their dental benefit last year. A 2024 rule was going to make plans mail you a list of unused benefits each July; CMS scrapped it before the first mailing. Most dental allowances expire December 31. One call, three questions, one appointment.